Fundraising Irony: Small Nonprofits Rely on Low-ROI Events for Fundraising

Small or volunteer-led nonprofits can’t, in most cases, go after large grants or major donors. Lacking such resources as a well-staffed development department and influential board members, they have good reason to turn to fundraising events.

Bake sales, walk-a-thons, auctions, gala dinners, and concerts all offer opportunities to mobilize a lot of volunteers, in some cases on short notice. Hey, events are practically parties, and might raise money, too!

But not much money. According to the research groupSoftware Advice, events-based fundraising can be harder for small nonprofits than large ones. They “are at a disadvantage,” because “the upfront investment for an event is a strain on resources.”

As explained in the report, this strain is caused by the groups’ tight budgets, as well as the fact that their largely volunteer-based staff may not have significant event planning experience.

That doesn’t mean smaller groups should despair with regard to events-based fundraising, however. Software Advice’s Report helpfully analyzed which events are most and least efficient in producing profits.

And now for the spoiler. The report’s major findings included that:

fun runs and walks are the easiest events to plan, producing moderate to high financial reward for nonprofits of all sizes

on average, a-thon events have the lowest cost per dollar raised (CPDR), and thus are suitable for all nonprofits, and

concerts have the highest CPDR, best taken on by groups with a larger budget.